Anki today announced the debut of two new cars and two new tracks for its iPhone-compatible Anki Drive slot car racing game. Joining the existing four cars are Hadion and Corax, new characters that focus on speed and weaponry, respectively.
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Designed by Anki and Hollywood legend Harald Belker, Corax and Hadion are the newest characters available for Anki DRIVE. Hadion is built for speed and is the only car that can access Turbo Boost, which enables you to fly incredibly fast down the track. Corax is the ultimate warrior, with the option to mount multiple weapons. Watch out, he's an aggressive one!
First introduced in 2013 during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, Anki Drive is a unique racing game that Anki describes as a "video game in the real world." Similar to slot car racing, Anki Drive incorporates artificial intelligence, machine learning, and smartphone-based controls, allowing two players to shoot at one another while their cars autonomously race down a vinyl track.
Each of Anki's cars have their own unique name, personality, look, and statistics. While some of them offer greater acceleration speeds, others have more energy or better weaponry. The two released today expand on the abilities of the existing cars, offering Turbo Boost (Hadrion) and multiple mounted weapons (Corax).
Along with the new cars, Anki is also introducing two new tracks: Crossroads and Bottleneck. Crossroads offers hard corners and a challenging intersection that requires solid timing and maneuvering skills, while Bottleneck introduces a bottleneck shape that must be overcome.
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There's also a brand new Race Mode in the Anki Drive app, which joins the existing Battle Mode. Weaponry is still available and the goal is to make it to the finish line first, beating out other players or AI-controlled cars.
Anki's new cars can both be purchased today from the Anki website for $69.99 each, and the new tracks will be available on May 6 for $99. The original Anki starter kit can also be purchased from the Anki website for $199.
The accompanying Anki Drive app can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)What you get instead is a bunch of luddites who, from an apparent lack of disposable income, feel the need to make disparaging comments on an internet forum. Not only that, they'd rather not see the company that innovated succeed by charging for more than a cast-iron toy car made in China...
Please...
If you watched the keynote and/or actually read this MR article, Anki incorporates some very advanced AI and machine learning concepts which are pushing the envelopes and even the understanding of what constitutes a "video game." This is nothing like a mechanized hot wheels track, at all.Hot wheels + video game = crazy expensive toy cars whose only value is that they can act out a racing game that's lacking in content (if you dish out $680, you get 3 tracks and 6 cars. I can't think of any other racing game that has so little content nor any other game that costs even 1/8th of that price. Heck, there are very few toys that cost half of that).
<< this is how you actually learn.
Okay, but what if the kid doesnt want to spend their childhood learning how to be a hardware of software engineer? What if they just wanted, you know, a toy?
True techie loves to build things on their own, they rather not having somebody else build their toys for them.
Rubbish. There's all kinds. Quite trying to redefine words centered around yourself.If you'd like to see your son play with something that's "actually" going to challenge him to write program and think logically. I'd actually recommend Lego Mindstorm (if money isn't a issue), or simply spend $100 to get the Arduino board plus everything else you need. << this is how you actually learn.
Or how about people buy things they like, and you buy things you like?This idea that you have to do things your way or they aren't a "true techie" or aren't going to learn, explore, or enjoy themselves, is nonsense.
C'mon now!
Maybe it's just me but I don't see a market for this. The technology is cool and impressive indeed but only so many adults wanting to geek out over iOS will want to buy this.
Why does it need anything more than that?
No one is expecting this to be in every house. You may as well tell Wacom not to bother, since most people won't want a tablet input device.
As long as they make more money than they spend, and people get a chance to buy and enjoy the product, what's the problem?
Kids has hot wheels already and don't need a phone to begin to dictate their imagination. If kids wanna slowly race, I'd imagine they already have a video game system and mountains of toys nearby.
I'm not aware of anything about this product that precludes using other toys and apps.
Not interested in this, just like how I got over it seconds after seeing it introduced during the keynote.
And there it is. Instead of just being content with not wanting it yourself, you seem compelled to tell everyone else why no one should want it. :rolleyes:
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$69 for a car? Wow, I could buy like FOUR Tyco slot car kits for that, in 1985.
How is that even an argument?How many AI-powered cars could you buy in 1985?
I mean, hell, an iPhone for $399? I could buy SIX Panasonic cordless phones in 1988 for that!
I think the one thing people are not saying, is the price. It sure it's creative and cool. But I'm sorry it is not $69 or $200, cool. Try to sell it for $50-$100 for the entire kit maybe people will actually buy in.
You have a point, but boy do MacRumours' members love to moan. So negative all the time, it's depressing. Cheer up, guys. :D